Skipper David Carlin, right, strayed into one of the UK’s busiest estuaries when his radar and navigation were faulty

A passenger was using an app on his iPad but they lost the signal and strayed into the main shipping channel of the Humber estuary — the UK’s busiest.

A DFDS Seaways cargo ferry, 1,400 times bigger at 32,289 tonnes, slammed into the pleasure craft.
Carlin, 34, put out a Mayday call and a nearby boat plucked him and the passenger from their life raft.

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The boat had not had a survey for 20 years. The port sidelight and radar were not working, the GPS did not have a data card, so it could not display local charts, and a lack of plotting instruments meant a paper chart was useless.

The probe by the Marine Accident Investigation Board said: “The buyer’s representative had an app on his iPad and the two men decided to use this as their primary means of navigation.

“It gave both men false confidence in their ability to navigate safely in the dense fog.

“It is possible the skipper felt some pressure to complete the voyage or risk losing the sale.”